Guest Blogger Friday!

Today's another one! This wonderful Friday, we have my good friend Sudsy (Soap6644 on NaNo). He agreed to write a blog post for me! I'm glad he did, because it's really good. So, everyone, please give a round of applause to... Sudsy!
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Writing. Writing is an escape from reality. No matter how bad things get in the real world, you have your own world that you can retreat into. You can make this world perfect, or worse than the worst moment in our history.


This world has its own problems. These often represent problems in the present world, and the author is expressing their opinion in a way that grabs at the attention of the reader. There never was a good story without a problem of some sort. The characters must have some sort of challenge to overcome. These challenges come in infinite varieties, a common one is war.

Another thing is perspective. Using war as an example, you can have a vast number of perspectives. From a soldier on the front lines to a peasant who's life is affected very slightly, everyone has an interesting tale to tell!

This world, to me at least, is somewhere to which I can, and often do, escape to. It's just so amazing and fun to be in charge of your own little world, and I always want to expand mine!
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I thought that was very good. But now, I must dash off, I'm at my mom's work for the day because at my school, we get days off to go and do something, like go to a museum or job shadow someone of anything like that. I'm using her work computer because her laptop won't connect to the Internet, so I have to go, 'cause she's gotta get back to work. Have a good day everyone!
-Cos

Guess who!!

Olive here!!!

*looks around and breaths in deeply* awh it feels good to be home!

It's been long, and hard, and full of stress BUT I will be coming back soon..

you see. I've recently moved.
And I had my computer put under restriction by aliens. Whom forgot the password that made it so I couldn't have Internet...which when I finally (cause I'm stubborn) decided to get Internet....they um...couldn't get in. So....they spent the money and got in today! Tonight! About 40 mins ago!!

And here I am!!

Oh I cant wait to get this thing bac-----I'd like to thank Cossy for doing a WONDERFUL job with the blog...in fact....this blog is pretty much her's now...=) And I LOVE it!! Oh my! I love it soooooo much!!!
THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH COSTELLO!!!!!!!!! You don't know how much this means to me!!!!

Anyways.....=) Here is my idea...please leave comments(if I don't get back right away do not freak out okay?):
What if Cossy kept this blog? and I made another one? I'm thinking I could guest on this one say once a week, and mine be a cooking blog. You see I have to make lunch everyday now, and I could take a picture of what is in the food and the final project, ect. I already plan on asking my parents if I can do this(as it will make me want to actually cook lunch?) so...if you all say no its fine. :) just an idea.....

Anyways.....Its good to be back!! I hope you are alll doing well!!

And night! I have to get up at 7/8 to do my walk with the fam....hills suck.
-Olive

I've Decided to Mix Things up a Bit...

I'm gonna do a photography post today. I decided to because for the past week, I've been taking a lot of pictures. I've even come up with a tip! So, let me know what you think!

Whaddya guys (and girls) think? Please, feel free to comment! Now, my tip! If you see something worth taking a picture of, by all means, grab it! Take those pictures, get the right shot. That's pretty much what I did with all of these. There's this sort of hallway that leads up to my door, and on the left hand side, there's a wall that has a couple of rosebushes there, and that's where I mostly get the urge to take a picture. So, take those words to heart, kids. Have a good day, everyone! Don't forget to comment!
-Coffee

Belated Guest Blogger!

I am so sorry. I had some stuff to do on Friday that took all day, and I didn't have time to post, and we had a football game on Saturday, so no time then. So here I am, with my guest blogger! His name is Mikey, and he's a real good friend of mine. So, here he is! :)

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Hey everyone, I'm Mikey with a guest post for Cos. My post is on Prolonged Exposure. Extended or “Prolonged” exposure is a great tool to take some really cool and amazing images. Prolonged exposure means that the camera’s shutter is open for a longer time than normal, allowing more light onto the picture. This can make the picture look like the object you are taking a picture of seem like it is moving. I like to use this feature mostly at night. You can get some really great pictures if you use your imagination.


Here are some pictures that I took while watching an aerial fireworks display. The camera was a few years old, but it was a digital camera with lots of mega pixels, (9.0 I think) and some other really nice features.

During the fireworks show, I set up my camera on a tripod and pointed it at the sky where most of the fireworks were exploding. Then I zoomed in on the area so that the fireworks would fill the viewfinder.

After setting the exposure time to what I thought would work, I would take the picture and wait for some fireworks to go off hoping to capture the entire display over the course of the exposure time. I experimented with all of the time setting until I found the right setting that would work well for what I was taking a picture of.

As you can see, it worked! But honestly it took me a little bit to get the hang of trying to predict when the next round of fireworks went off. After snapping lots (and I mean LOTS) of pictures, a few of them turned out really good! The one that looks like a flower is my favorite.

If your camera has the prolonged exposure feature, try it out sometime and you will be amazed at what you can get. You can use prolonged exposure at night or in the daytime for a variety of subjects. Just use some imagination and get out here and get “snapping”! Thanks for your time, see you in two weeks! -Mikey

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That was awesome! Sorry for the wait everyone, but I hope this made up for it! Please, comment away!
-Costello

Geez, I'm Terrible.

It's a Thursday, and I haven't posted since Sunday. I'm so bad. I'm letting down the few readers I have. This is no way to maintain a stable blog! Argh, I gotta get back on top! Erm, I mean on top of posting. I guess, since I'm using my mom's laptop, which means I don't have any pictures on it, I'll just do a random post, possibly a story, if I find some inspiration. That may come in a post later this evening. Possibly. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of Beatles, ever since the kid next to me in English was singing Hey Jude under his breath. Good times... My favorite song right now would have to be Yesterday. 'Cause I believe in yesterday! Yeah! That was bad... *scratches head nervously* I'm not very sure what to post about. Hold on, I'm going to ask my fellow NaNo friends what to talk about. Please hold.
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They tell me I should talk about CC. CC stands for Character Chatzy. Chatzy is this chatroom website, and we made one for our characters! What we do, is we log in as a character in one of our many, unfinished stories and sort of... roleplay! But with lots more drama. :D And I'm not really one for drama, but it's not me. It's Cody, my charrie. He's handling all of it for me. I just sort of... guide him along. And he actually doesn't hate me, like most characters hate their authors. He doesn't hate me because I got him together with Ash, my friend Jessa's charrie, now his future wife. They're engaged. We use the author chat to plan out all of what's going to happen in CC, most of the time as things are going on at that moment. Very time-consuming. Not really. You've really gotta keep up. Reggie knows, poor girl. Well, I'll stop this post. I can tell I'm boring you all already. You miss Olive, huh? I know I do. You know what? I'm going to make a poll. No, she'll never see it. I haven't talked to her in a long time. I miss her. Well, goodbye everyone! Tomorrow is another guest blogger! Be sure to tune in! Or, something like that. Whatever. Just check periodically! Bye!
-Costello

I'm not sure what to talk about...

True dat. Maybe I should talk about NaNo! That's a good idea! 43 more days! Yay!!!!!! I'm so excited! My dad's gotta start working on his outline... He's the one who introduced me to YWP, you know. He did adult NaNo three or so years ago, and about 5 months ago, he showed me the YWP! Of course, I was under a different name then, and seeing as I wasn't attracting any attention to myself, I decided to make a new account with a new name! And thus Costello Shields was born. That's me! But, then again, everyone thought I was a guy... But now they know I'm a girl. Yay! Now I even have nicknames. Cos, Cossy, Cossie, Cod, Coddy, CS, and, most recent, Coffee. Thank you, Reggie.
So, my idea for this year's NaNo. Man, I'm nervous. I've never done NaNo before, and my goal's only gonna be like 5,000 or 10,000. I'm shooting for 10,000. But, my school always gets in the way, so it'll be hard to get any writing time. But thankfully, I've got Write or Die. My idea this year is going through the life of a new character I made, Cody, and I'm gonna tell all the events that have happened since the first day I brought him in to the character Chatzy. NaNoers, you'll know what I'm talking about. ;) Good times. Lots of drama.... Well, I must go. Have a sundae to attend to. (As in, eat it!) Goodbye! Happy Sunday, everyone!
-Cos

Another Guest Blogger!

Hello everyone! Sorry for a very uneventful week. I've been very very busy. Thankfully, my friend Neso on NaNo remembered that they had a blog post on here, when I totally spaced, so yeah! Here it is!

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Oh hello, I’m Neso; you may know me as invisible_ninja and/or the mind behind http://www.theceilingofjupiter.blogspot.com . If you don’t know me, well then, it’s very nice to meet you!


So today I’ve been called to come before you to stand behind you, to tell you something I know nothing about… KIDDING! I’m going to talk to you about WRITING.

It’s really hard to get started sometimes, and it’s really hard to finish other times, and sometimes the middle just doesn’t seem to be working. Trust me, I’ve been there.

So how, then, exactly can you write anything when everything seems to be blocking you?

Well, I have a solution for that! Multiple solutions, actually. More solutions=more fun! You may already know some of these solutions (or all of them), but it can’t harm to reiterate, can it?

Solution One: Ninja-Watch (known by the less popular name of somewhat-stalking)

Go to a public place. Right now. Go. If you can. Finish reading this post first. Or do whatever you “need” to do, like homework, or eating. Psh. You don’t need that!

But the thing is, when you get the chance, just go and observe people. Observe the place you’re in. Whatever. Jot down everything you deem noteworthy-who knows? Maybe you’ll get a really great idea for writing!

Solution Two: Prompts

I’m fairly sure you’ve all done at least ONE prompt in your lifetime, if not more. English teachers in particular seem to like it. And why wouldn’t they? It gives you an idea when your idea well has run dry.

So here are some prompts to get you started:

♦Describe something from the point of view of an inanimate object. Even go through a day in its life.

♦Oh no! Your house is about to be covered with orangey, glowing plasma! What do you do?

♦There’s something odd happening that’s linked to the new girl in school…Plus, what’s up with the computer lab?

♦Start a story with the word “BOOM!” Then say what went on from there.

Solution Three: Chaotic Shiny

Or Seventh Sanctum, or Nine French boys, or whatever generator you wish. Chaotic Shiny is my personal favorite. It has a generator for almost anything under the sun, from topics of songs to sci-fi and fantasy traps to market layouts. It’s given me many a good idea. http://www.chaoticshiny.com

So, I hope you can find something in the gibberish I just wrote that is useful to you! To finish off my post, here are some pictures:

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Wasn't that awesome? Thank you so much, Neso! Be sure to follow the blog posted above! Everyone, have a good day! :D
-Costello

Finally!

I finally made a post. Thank you for waiting! I'm surprised you all haven't figured out where I live and chased me down with pitchforks and torches demanding a bog post. *nervous laugh* So, I should probably get on with it. I took these pictures one morning at like 6 a.m. Let me know what you think!

I like 'em. Now, I'm having trouble coming up with story ideas, so I need some help. Please, if you can, post a comment with a story idea! One that you just made up or something, not one that you're using. Or if you know of a really good plot generator or something, post it! Thank you all!
-Costello

Real Quick.

I am so sorry. I've been really busy, so I haven't had time to do anything. But I promise, I will make it up tomorrow. But for now, how do you guys like the new setup, eh? I made the button and header maself, not to toot my own horn. (toot toot) :D So? How are all of you? I'm doing rather well. Doing good in school, not picking any fights, the usual goody-goody Teacher's Pet thing. Yeah yeah. Whatever. Well, I must go, thank you all for understanding! You're all awesome! :D
-Costello

Remembrance.

Today is a day of remembrance. For most, it is for the 10th anniversary of the terrible event on 9/11. I, for one, was too young to remember it, yet I am still wearing my 9/11 t-shirt. I would like to thank all of the families of the victims for staying strong after 10 years without your loved ones. I'd also like to thank the survivors of 9/11, especially the firemen and such. You all have a great place in my heart. Thank you. For me, however, the remembrance is about my grandmother on my mother's side. Earlier this afternoon/evening, she found a video that my grandma made a month and a half before she died. My mom wanted me to know what she looked like, and I cried. She was beautiful. She died two years before I was even born. I love you, Grandma.

On a happier note, I had a pretty good day. Well, except for right now. I'm watching the footage from the whole day... It's horrible. The first time I've seen it. Words just can't explain all the pain and anger that happened that dreadful day. I am so sorry. I guess I'll leave this post like this. Goodbye, everyone. I love you all.
-Costello

Pretty Boring Day. Nothing to do...

Pretty boring. I did clean my room a bit, move some stuff, and now I have my own little reading bench in my little closet, complete with a hanging lamp! And I finished a book I was reading, Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. It was pretty good. My favorite line from it was 'I guess I always felt even if the world came to an end, McDonald's would still be open'. It was a pretty good book. You people should read it! :D Argh, slow day. Oh my gosh! 51 days till NaNoWriMo! I'm so freaking excited! It'll be my first year, so I'm pretty nervous. My goal is 10k, and I feel so small compared to everyone else because their goals are up in the 40 and 50 thousands. I chose 10k because I normally stop in the middle of a story, so I can at least get that much, and also, the school I'm going to gives a lot of homework and I barely have enough time to write. So that'll be a big impact. I'm nervous... But at least I have my NaNo buddies to help me through all this. :) I love you all! Thank you all so much for being there for me, especially when I was being hysterical and thinking of leaving NaNo altogether. Those were bad times... Well, I should go. Happy Saturday, everyone! :)

-Cos

Tadaaa! Guest Blogger... And 50th post! I Just Realized!

Yeah! I saw on my dashboard thingy that I have 49 posts, and today is the 50th! I should really start paying more attention to these sorts of things.... So! Our guest blogger today (in a very long while) has the special... privilege! Yes, that's the word. The privilege to be the 50th poster! So, everyone, please give a warm welcome to... Zuzu! Or, just Zu. :)
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To all you NaNoers I know, hi! And thanks Cossy!
One day, we all tell ourselves, we will either make writing a big part of our lives as adults or we’ll wish the urge to stare at a computer screen for hours on end will go away. We are sleep deprived people who live in our minds. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. If you’re a writer, when you’re not thinking about anything else your mind is on auto-wander straight to your novel. You’re watching TV and your character is yelling at you for being cruel in their story or in Chatzy at midnight. We can’t help it. But in any case we’re lucky our parents are supportive—or at least willing—of the late nights, the questions, and everything else that entails…
If you really care about your writing, and about the adventures your characters go on, then you have been irreversibly sucked into the void. It might let us go when we have attend college, get jobs, all those things that line us up for the real world. But for now we are writers, and whatever else our individual lives make us. Writing isn’t quite like an addiction; not everyone likes it. We all have our friends who, like us, really like writing, those that are okay with it, and those who despise words on paper altogether. No, it’s not something that you can control for the time being. It is an enormous part of who we are as people.
That said, never take your work too seriously: If you like it, too bad if no one else does. You write what you like. Something glorious: Freedom! Poetic License! And another great thing about writing is that you can say things—directly or just hinting—that you feel like you just can’t IRL.
Truly, characters can be your best friends! However ridiculous this may seem, they actually make fun buddies outside of their novel. You go on a walk, talk to them, you run out to the mail, race them. It’s a good way to get to know them better. Not to mention that if you’re stuck, just write! Free-write! They’ll get you out of trouble eventually. And you create the world they live in, the adventures they go on. It’s something really awesome about writing; you can momentarily live in the world of your imagination. We have them for a reason! Of course, there is in fact a more respected, more active world out there, ‘tis true. But if we weren’t here, where would the world of books be?
Something I struggle with, and notice in a few people’s novels, is that as the story progresses, the different personalities become more and more similar. One of my favorite things about reading a good book is that all the characters contrast nicely and are so vivid. I always get so caught up in the plot that I forget about that. Something I like doing is studying people. I don’t mean being like a stalker, but if you walk past so many different people in a city or when you’re stuck with them on a train, it’s great to see how they act or look. And it’s AWESOME if you can find someone that looks like one of your charries. There are so many other people that you have never seen before and will probably never see again, and they all have their own lives. Real, believable characters are supposed to have their own lives, just like we do.
And finally, where do we get inspiration from? It’s a fine question. Some things just come, others we get from the feeling of a certain place or from the weather. Even if you never go anywhere with it, write down whatever comes to you. Even if you think it’s a lame idea, it is an idea, and it came from your imagination. Trust your writers’ mind; it’s different from everyone else’s.
Well, thanks for listening to me guys! See you around here, NaNo or Chatzy!
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That was fantabulous! Don't you all agree? Thank you so much Zu! And congrats on being the 50th poster! :) Have an excellent weekend everyone, and I have a special post lined up for Sunday. Thank you all!
-Cossy

I'm on Time! A Bit Late, But at Least I'm on Time! On the Day, That is...

      Wow. That is a really long title. And excuse me for any spelling or grammar mistakes, I'm on my mom's laptop and the keys are very sensitive. Stupid laptop. So! On to my photography post for today. :D Man, just like the old times...

I also took these the day before yesterday, on the same day of the pictures in yesterday's post. Wow, I type fast. :) Sorry, off topic. I tend to do that a lot. I often branch off into different directions in the middle of a conversation, but I almost always end up remembering what I was talking about earlier, considering I have a terrible memory. Argh! See?! I'm doing it again! Okay, back to photography. That was a really long sentence... Ack! Okay, now for my tip. Here it is: Sunsets and sunrises are a good photo opportunity. That's the tip I used for these pictures and yesterday's. It really adds a nice glow. Thanks for your time! Hope you enjoyed!
-Costello

Agh! I Can't Believe I Forgot. *facepalm*

So sorry. I seriously didn't mean to. I forgot about yesterday. At least I'm doing it today! Yay for make-ups! Not makeup. I don't like that stuff. Blech. Okay, first with my story, then my pictures. :)

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We were sitting there, Kelly and I. The sun was beating down on our sunscreen covered faces, our ice cream melting on our hands, chocolate for me, and mint chocolate chip for my friend. Occasionally we would look at each other and smile, or giggle a bit. Other than that, we would just sit on the rusty old swing set outside of the run-down school. We used to go there when were just little kids. We first met in preschool, on this very swing set.

  

   It was my first day of school, never been here, never even been in school. I was nervous as heck, slowly walking around the playground. I spotted the swing set, shiny navy blue poles, bright red leather seats, it all looked very inviting. The only thing was there was another girl occupying the one of the two seats. I wasn’t too sure about going up and taking a seat, so I turned around, my hands twirling in front of me. I really liked swings, but I was too shy. Eventually, I overcame my fears and walked up to the girl. Her dark brown hair was lightly swaying, wearing a light red shirt, and shorts, her little legs pumping for more momentum. She stopped when I stood in front of her, and she smiled.

   “Hi,” she said, getting off the swing and holding out her hand. “I’m Kelly. What’s your name?”

   I stammered, staring at her hand. I took a deep breath and said, “I’m Nikki.” I shook her hand and she sat back on the swing. That was the beginning of a very long friendship.

   I snapped back to the present. I grabbed Kelly’s hand, smiling, and we walked away, reminiscing once more. I don’t bother to wonder what would’ve happened if we hadn’t met.

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That may seem a bit familiar to some NaNoers, because this is the story that I entered in the NaNo YWP July contest (which lost, of course). Let me know what you think! And now, on to my pictures.

I took those all yesterday. :D Thank you all for your time! Have a good day!
-Cos

Okay, Today's the Day. (First Writing Post)

Agh, hello everyone. (a.k.a, Rose, Jessa, and Jay, most likely my only viewers left) Today is that day. The day for my very first writing blog post. Once more, thank you to everyone who voted. :) Argh, okay, well I just wrote this, and it's rather dark, at least, to me it is, considering I never write anything nearly like this, so let me know how I did. :)
P.S, sorry I delayed this so long, I was at my grandparents house.
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Ink, the substance that stains my fingers and palms. Parchment, the thing that allows me to live. Reality? my prison. Ink and parchment are my ticket out of the cell I live in. Words, my boats, trains, aeroplanes that take me away. Away from all the misery and disappointment. The crying of children, cold, hungry and weak. The screams of men and women being beaten in the square. Writing lets me leave this world behind and enter a new one, full of life and happiness. It's the only thing that can keep me sane throughout the long, cold, weary days, where I learn about the cruelty of our ancestors, and the brutality of the beaters that line every street, every back alley. We don't want to, but we have no choice, unless we want to be punished severely. We are too young to be learning these sorts of things, and most of the teachers agree. But there are those who enjoy seeing the pain on the little children's faces. It's sick. For quite a while now, about half of our little village has been planning on fighting back, with more people joining each day. Planning to overthrow King Julius, the monster that is responsible for the torment and torture. If he found out that I write, I would be most certainly hanged on the spot. I don't write just for me, though. I do it for my little brothers and sisters, and for the other children as well. My stories take their minds off of their shivering bodies and empty stomachs, at least for a while. They rely on me to give them hope, hope that they will escape from the grasp of the King and find our own world. A world like the ones in my stories, where there are no beatings, no illnesses, and always full stomachs. "One day," I tell them. "One day, we will escape. All of us. I can promise you that." Only I don't tell them that the only way that they will escape from this world is by leaving it forever and dying.
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Argh, that was bad. But let me know what you think!
-Costello

I. Am. Terrible.

It's true. I really am. I'm really not trying to neglect this blog. But I haven't been on in a few days because... I got in trouble. And I got banned from TV and the computer, so I really didn't have a choice. But I'm back! Starting Monday, thanks to all of you fabulous voters, I am going to start my writing! I really appreciate all of you voting, because I'm really hoping that writing these stories would help to write some more. I started a few days ago, but I've stopped again. And so sorry about the guest bloggers. School's started, and it's tearing them away from blogging. Really sucks. I promise, we'll have one next Friday. Okay? Promise. On my life. And maybe I'll get Olive to maybe post a little something for all of you viewers that are left. If there are any...
-Costello